What color eyeshadow should I wear with my eye color?

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008

One of my most frequently asked questions in makeup is: what color eyeshadow will suit my ______ colored eyes?

Generally speaking, both artists and makeup artists are knowledgeable about the color wheel, which displays several colors in a circle. Complimentary colors are opposite of each other; for example, red’s complimentary color is green.

Typically, the following is advised:

Green eyes: Purples, pinks, and reds

Blue eyes: Oranges, coppers, golds

Hazel eyes: Warm tones, bronzes, greens

Brown eyes: Browns, bronzes, greens

Gray eyes: Grays, cool tones, brown

Do you agree? Do you find that the colors that make your eyes “pop” are complimentary? I have hazel eyes, and in that respect, both greens and bronzy colors do work well; depending on the hue, it will either bring out the green or the brown/gold flecks in my eyes.

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101 thoughts on “What color eyeshadow should I wear with my eye color?”

It may sound weird but my eyes have changed. I used to have brown eyes, but now they are hazel. However, I used to wear reds a lot and everybody loved red on me too. Maybe it has to do with the color of your hair. I don’t know about you, but mine is brownish-blonde.

hey, i have blue gray eyes and I have dark brown hair and my roots r kinda reddish, wat make up should i use? pplz help! talk to me at sodahead.com/bumblebee
plz!
p.s. if u do tell me u read this.
thanx!

Hello, I’ve got the same colour eyes as you so my coment might help you.
I use coral eye shadow or pinkish redish. You can also use green but be carefull you don’t want to go to blue (your eyes ar allready blue)

I use the complimentary color wheel as a basis/foundation but I find that there are no steadfast rules so I don’t rely on it too much. For example, my eyes are hazel (both green and soft brown) and so I can wear blue colors (when my eyes are browner) and pinks/purples when my eyes are greener. But, in general, I wear whatever color suits my style/personality in general. I am not big on the gold/bronzy colors, which, according to the wheel, I should wear.

I have green eyes and I find I’ve had the best results with purples thus far (granted, I only got into eyeshadows over the last year or so). Grays and silvers work well, too. I’ve tried reds and pinks, but maybe I just haven’t learned how to apply them right — I always end up looking like I’ve been on a crying jag…

Yeah, I kno wwhat you mean. I watch A LOT of shows where they do makeup like What Not To Wear, Style Her Famous, and lots of other ones, so I know what colours look good on people. Pinks should never be worn unless you have LARGE black eyes or if you have a very soft brown eye. Even if you do wear pink, go for a metallic soft rose shade with a silver undertone to it to not look like a freak.

Hi Marta! I’m a pale blue-eyed Polish girl, and I also had issues with wearing blue shadow. Then I saw this Bebe ad that featured a blue-eyed model wearing blue shadow- and it looked gorgeous. I printed the ad and took it to MAC, and they helped me re-create the look. Here’s what I use, in order of application:

I always used to wear brown because it is supposed to work with blue eyes. And it looked fine. But lately I found that greens really light up my skin tone. In fact I would rather wear the green tones now!

I have green eyes, and I wear purple eyeshadow a lot, both because I like how it makes my eyes look and because I love purple! But I also wear green eyeshadow a lot, and will wear basically any color family on my eyes.

I have medium to dark brown eyes, and I always get the feeling that dark blue’s or purples ( mixed with some gray or black) seem to work for me. Even though it’s not completely according to the color theory

I have caramel colored brown eyes with some green flecks, but not a true hazel. Bronzes, greens, blues and purples look great on my eyes. I think the reason they work is because I am so dark (NC50)and the contrast works well for me.

i have gray eyes with bits of green(weird combo. but its cool lookin)
ive found that a coppery bronze looks REALLY awesome on me. my hair is a medium blonde color, so idk if thats y, but i do all sort of different things – experimentation!

I have dark brown almost black eyes and dark hair and I find that Purple, Turquoise, Blues and greens in shimmery and Jewel tones work best for me. Brown eyeshadow makes my eyes look rather flat and pink makes me look rather punched out.

purple goes well with brown eyes (hence, i have brown eyes), it brings out my eye color. honestly, i think it doesn’t matter what color eyes we have but how we apply the shadow itself. i don’t like applying the same color eye shadow everyday…so i’m always playing with my eye shadow to create that certain look and i’ve never gone wrong with any color.

Hmm, I half agree- I have brown eyes and I do get the most compliments when I wear bright greens or olive tones so that’s true but I find brown eyeshadow/brown eyes a really, really dull combo. Purples, greys & reds also make my eye colour pop

I have green eyes, and purples/reds/pinks DO really emphasize that. But I don’t feel like I HAVE to wear stuff that emphasizes my eye color for my makeup and face in general to rock. Of course, I don’t wear makeup on a daily basis either; I also wear glasses so emphasizing my eyes is sometimes moot because my glasses are pretty dramatic anyway. I am far more likely to pick an eye shadow color scheme based on what I’m wearing and what I’m in the mood to wear.

So, yes, the color wheel and color theory is accurate but I don’t feel at all inclined to limit myself that way.

i have really really dark brown eyes which are practically black. i find that electric and navy blue really look good with my eyes. but light colours don’t work for me. maybe cuz i have slightly tanned skin. dark purple and dark green work as well.

I have blue eyes but being fair skinned, I find that coppers and golds etc, do not suit me at all. I’ve tried many a time to pull it off but just can’t. I tend to pull of pinks, browns and greens more easily.

I actually don’t agree at all. Sure some of the things are right, but I think that we all look great in things and colors we are comfortable in because we wear them with confidence.

I have very dark brown eyes and the example above shows that I “should” wear greens, browns and bronzes. But I actually like blues, greys, teal, turqoise and other colors.

Like this EOTD I did this week (I have a theme going on called Mike’s Choice. My husband chooses MAC shadows and pigments for me to create my look with) and it’ve very blue. It make my eyes pop out more than what bronzes does sometimes.
Here is the look: http://rouaa.blogg.se/beauty/images/2008/nymph2_19424293.jpg

So I think that we all should wear the colors we love and feel good in. We don’t need limits in make-up!

I have brown eyes and I find that shades such as purple, silver, gold, blues and especially green tend to work best with my eye colour. I do sometimes wear browns but I find that other contrasting colours tend to bring out the colours of my eyes much more.

I have dark blue eyes and wear all colours. I especially like vivid colors, blue, greens, pinks…I am also very pale and find that I can get away with more bc of it. Browns are ok but I find I look washed out in neutrals.

I have olive eye color. Not green, not hazel…just plain olive.
If I wear a lipstick in the red/orange range it looks best, but I can’t find the correct eyeshadow. My hair is dk. red with blond chunks and my skin is naturally a light tan color. I need help with the eyeshadow !!

I have blue eyes, auburn hair (red/ brown) and really pale skin. I hate it when my eyes look grey, which in the winter they tend to, I want to make them appear as blue as possible!I find that brown eyeshadow does make my blue eyes stand out however the brown looks to dark against my pale skin and makes me look slightly ill! However i find that orange and pale gold works well! I’m bord of wearing these colours though so does any one else have any other ideas for what colours you think would suit me? please help…

I have found that I love browns/tans , blacks/greys, and very light metallic pinks on my light blue, practically grey eyes. I wear the browns/tans and blacks/greys when I feel like I really wanna stand out and I love to wear the light pink when I just don’t want 2 stand out. And I usually apply it across the crease, but not too far past that. Am I doing this rite? Am I using the rite colors?

I have more green than brown in my (hazel)eyes too. I really like dark brown on me, but I am pretty tan and my hair is bronish-blonde. I wear glasses so you can’t really see my eye lashes but brown eyeshadow works well with an orangish pink lip gloss.

My eyes are green but I have a lighter brown/green color around pupil it is actually a light green just up close can appear a little brown. So my eyes are green but turn gray what do I do if my eyes change colors at rare times they go blue or blue-ish green so what would I do then if they change in the middle of the day.

my eyes differ sometimes i have green eyes with orange in the middle and then brown eyes with green in the middle. i find the best sort of eyeshadows for my eyes are white, blue,silver, red,brown and green.

if you have brown eyes you shouldnt where brown eyeshadow as it dominates your eyes and everyone will be looking at your eyeshadow not your gorgeous eyes
brown=greens,blues, but if you dont wanna be out there then pale golds and reds
blue=NEVER PUT BLUE EYESHADOW ON, rich reds or creamy pale
green= browns or reds aswell
hazel=the worlds your oyster your lucky enough hazel goes with almost anything but i would stay clear of pale greens
anything else=pale colours are the best

I have medium brown eyes and browns, bronzes and greens do usually look pretty good on me. Purples and certain pinks also look really good. I find that any reddish color makes me look sick, so if a brown is too warm and red it looks bad. Really I only wear darker cooler toned browns. Some blues also look really good with my eyes. I think skin tone has a lot to do with what looks good, too.